Assad's Grand Plan to Reunite Syria With the Arab World | WSJ

- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is being welcomed back into the fold of some Arab nations after being shunned by most

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leaders for more than a decade. Its brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 sparked a civil war that continues to this day. (gunshots) The conflicts led to sanctions against the Syrian government by its neighbors and Western nations. But in recent weeks, buoyed by a devastating earthquake, Assad has been rebuilding diplomatic relations and calling for economic respite. From walking the red carpet in Oman to meeting Egypt's foreign minister. Here's how Assad has changed his image and what this means for the Middle East.

A devastating earthquake hits Türkiye and Syria in February. While most of the victims occurred in Türkiye, more than 6,000 died in Syria. Assad's government said Western sanctions stemming from the war hampered its rescue efforts. - A few hours after the earthquake there was a meeting of senior Syrian officials in Damascus. And the idea was that we would now leverage this on two levels. The first, press against the sanctions so that they end, not just for exemptions. And two, we will use it as a tool to get our Arab neighbors or other Arab countries to come to us. -The earthquake appears to have given Assad a boost in his attempt to take advantage of the humanitarian disaster to reduce his isolation.

In the days after the disaster, representatives from some countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, visited Syria. - So, really, you could see that what was already underway as a kind of repression accelerated at that stage. - Assad also made his second state visit since 2011 to Oman, a country that never broke ties with Damascus. European and Arab officials said Syria's president used the trip to push for the removal of Western sanctions in exchange for keeping crossings open to rebel-held areas of Syria. Assad's efforts to restore ties have been strengthening since the Arab League, a group of 22 nations, suspended Syria when war broke out in 2011. (in foreign language) - In recent years, the Syrian leader has rejected to the rebels with the help of Russia and Iran.

Both countries remain key partners of the regime. Assad arrived in Moscow in March for talks with President Vladimir Putin to develop cooperation between the two countries. And Syria has been working with its neighbors to curb the rise of terrorist groups and the trade in the illicit drug Captagon. - In several countries in the region there was already some type of conversation about counterterrorism, obviously due to the presence of the Islamic State and other groups affiliated or close to Al Qaeda. So there was already a kind of very discreet commitment. That was accelerated because of Captagon, because of this illicit drug that really started flooding into the region from Syria into countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. - An agreement is now being negotiated between Assad and some Arab nations, including Jordan, to help Syria reintegrate more formally.

It could benefit the region for several reasons. - The main concept is really stability. If there is a country in the region in which the rule of law does not exist and everything is collapsed as happened sometimes in Somalia or Libya, that has implications for the rest of the region and that is what they want to avoid. . I think they want to avoid another Libya. - Somalia's central government has struggled for more than a decade to contain terrorist attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked group Al-Shabaab. Libya has been in turmoil since leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. For Syria, all of Assad's diplomatic efforts come against the backdrop of a protracted civil war that has raged for more than 12 years.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died and the conflict has created the

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's largest refugee crisis according to the United Nations. But even as the war continues and Arab countries bring Assad back into the fold, convincing the West to ease tensions will be more difficult. -His sanctions program, which, once again, is not ready to end in this scenario, would potentially be an impediment to Arab rebuke. - While the UN said that the status quo of isolating Syria cannot continue. - There needs to be a coordinated international effort to support this with all key actors working in a coherent effort.